In chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, a window is opened
allowing us to view the last Passover our Lord would observe before carrying
out what the Passover had always pictured. From the days of Moses in Exodus 12
until the very night we read about in John 13, every time the Passover was
observed, it reminded the Jews of their deliverance from slavery by the hand of
God…but even greater, it foreshadowed what Christ was about to do. He was about
to deliver His people, who had been given to Him before the foundation of the
world, from the slavery of their sin. He was about to become the Passover Lamb
of God.
In verses 5 through 9, Jesus Christ washes the Disciples
feet, modeling for them the way they were to live their lives…in humility and
service to each other.
Then Jesus makes a statement…
John 13:10-11
10 Jesus
saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his
feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
11 For
he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye
are not all clean.
Jesus then sends Judas away to do what Satan had filled
his heart to do…betray Him. With Judas gone, Christ began to comfort the
remaining 11 Disciples…those who truly believed on Him. That is found in John
chapter 14.
Now we come to our text this morning. With what has
already transpired we read…
John
15:1-8
1 I am
the true (ä-lā-thē-no's
that
which has not only the name and resemblance, but the real nature corresponding
to the name) vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Christ calls Himself “the true vine,” because, as the
vine imparts to its branches sap and productiveness, so Christ infuses into His
elect His own divine strength and life. He used this metaphor because his
disciples were Jewish and very familiar with vineyards.
Christ also relates to them that God the Father is the
husbandman, or farmer…keeper of the vine. I know this from experience, being
the keeper of any fruit producing plants, such as a garden (in my case) or
vineyard, requires knowledge, consistency and hard work. Our Heavenly Father,
has all knowledge. He never changes, therefore He is consistent. He never
sleeps or slumbers, therefore He is always at work.
2 Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
This
verse requires both a systematic approach as well as an historical approach in
order to rightly divide or interpret. First of all, Christ says, “Every branch
in me…” Some read this and believe that Christ is speaking of two types of saved
individuals. I can understand how they would think that. We have to rightly
interpret what Christ is saying to understand what He is meaning. “Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit is taken away.” Is Christ saying that every true
Christian that does not bear fruit will be taken away? Is it possible for a
true believer to never produce fruit? Can a true believer lose his salvation?
We
know…
John 6:37 All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out.
Christ
will NOT cast out the elect.
John 10:27-30
27 My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And
I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand.
29 My
Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
30 I
and my Father are one.
True
Christians have been given ETERNAL life
(without
end)…and no one can pluck them out of the Father’s hand. We know,
from Christ’s own words that a true Christian will never be cast away into the
fire to be burned as vs. 6 of our text makes clear as to what happens to those
branches that do not “abide” in Christ…that do not produce fruit.
Matthew 7:17-20
17 Even
so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit.
18 A
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit.
19 Every
tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
The
principle is established by Jesus Christ that a lost individual does not bear
the fruit of a true Christian. It is clear from the words of Christ, taken all
together, that every branch that does not bear fruit is taken away. He is
referring to lost people.
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you, and ordained (established) you, that ye should go and bring forth
fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
The elect of Christ, saved by His grace alone, at their
appointed time, will follow Him and will bring forth fruit. So then, who
are the branches “in Him” that do not bear fruit? Taking a systematic approach,
we see that those branches that do not produce fruit are lost folks. Taking an
historic approach, from the writings of our Baptist forefathers, John Gill and
Charles Spurgeon, we see that historically, these “branches” that produce no
fruit have been interpreted as highly religious, but lost church members.
~John
Gill~
“There are two sorts of branches in Christ the
vine; the one sort are such who have only an historical faith in him, believe
but for a time, and are removed; they are such who only profess to believe in
him, as Simon Magus did; are in him by profession only; they submit to outward
ordinances, become church members, and so are reckoned to be in Christ, being
in a church state, as the churches of Judea and Thessalonica, and others, are
said, in general, to be in Christ; though it is not to be thought that every
individual person in these churches were truly and savingly in him. These
branches are unfruitful ones; what fruit they seemed to have, withers away, and
proves not to be genuine fruit; what fruit they bring forth is to themselves,
and not to the glory of God, being none of the fruits of his Spirit and grace:
and such branches the husbandman taketh away.”
~Charles
Spurgeon~
“Observe
that our text mentions two characters who are in some respects exceedingly
alike; they
are
both branches, they are both branches in the vine: “Every branch in Me.” How
much alike persons
may
apparently be, who in God’s sight stand at opposite poles of character! Both
the persons described
in
the text were in Christ: in Christ in different senses it is obvious, because
the first persons were not so
in
Christ as to bring forth fruit, consequently, as fruit is that by which we are
to judge a man, they were
not
in Christ effectually, graciously, influentially, or so as to receive the
fruit-creating sap. If they had
brought
forth fruit, their fruitfulness would have been a sign that they were in Christ
savingly.
Who
will venture to say that a man who yields no fruit of righteousness can be really
a Christian? Yet they were in Christ in some sense or other; that is to say,
the two characters were equally esteemed to be Christians; their names were
enrolled in the same church register; in the common judgment of men they were
equally Christian; according to their own profession, they were so; in many
other respects which we need not now catalog, they were both in Christ as His
avowed disciples, as soldiers professedly fighting under His banner, as
servants wearing His uniform.
These
two persons were probably equally sound in their doctrinal views, they held the
same precious
truths
of God. If they heard falsehood, they were equally earnest to denounce it. When
they listened to
the
gospel, they received it with joy, and so received it as to be willing to
assist in the spread of it, and
even
to make sacrifices for its extension. These persons were equally attentive to
ordinances. How often
has
it happened that two persons of widely different states before the Lord, have
been baptized at the
same
hour, in the same water, into the same name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit,
and
have then broken bread together with equal apparent fervency, and with equal
professions of enjoyment and devotion! These people have been equally fair in
their profession; their moral conduct has, in the judgment of all onlookers,
been much the same; they have avoided everything of ill repute, and they have
in their measure sought after that which was comely and lovely in the
estimation of men. Ah, there will often be found two who publicly pray alike,
have an equal gift in prayer—and what is worse, preach with equal earnestness
and zeal, and to all appearance their family prayer is maintained with the same
consistency, and yet for all this, the end of the one shall be to be cast away
as a branch to be burned, while the end of the other shall be to bring forth
fruit unto perfection, with everlasting life as the reward.”
Those
who are the fruitless branches are the ones spoken of by Christ in…
Matthew
7:21-23
21 Not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and
in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity.
Yes,
they were church members, just as Judas Iscariot was a member of the first
church started by Christ. Yes, they had many wonderful works, as did Judas, yet
they did not bear the fruit of the Spirit as seen in…
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith,
23 Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.
Those
who have truly been saved…those true “branches in the vine” will bear fruit. They
will bear fruit because the “husbandman” God the Father ordained it and will
“purge” it or prune it. He will remove every part of the branch that the fruit
is not growing on, but is sucking the life from the rest of the branch. Every
old, dead, decaying leaf He will remove. Every “sucker” chute that grows but
has no value, He will remove. By doing so…He causes the branch to bring forth
more fruit.
Those branches that do not produce fruit will
be removed, as Judas Iscariot was. Those who are not true Christians will, like
the seeds planted in rocky soil, spring up, but will wither away when the heat
of the sun is upon them, because they have no root. Or, like the seeds that
fell among the thorns, they will spring up, but be choked out by the thorns…the
cares of this world. We’ve all seen it. Some, who are like the tares the enemy
planted among the wheat will be allowed to grow up with the wheat, but will one
day be removed by God’s angels on the Day of Judgment. God will make obvious
who they are.
Keeping
in mind that Judas had left, and Christ was with the 11 true believing
disciples, Christ said…
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I
have spoken unto you.
They were clean: They had been regenerated, set
apart by God to be holy and to produce His fruit in their lives. Their hearts
had been purified and His grace had been formed in their souls. It was the very
words of Christ, the Gospel, that were instrumental in accomplishing their
salvation. They were truly saved men.
A few short hours before He would shed His
blood and suffered the wrath of God for their sins on the Cross of Calvary, Christ
told those men…and He tells believers today…
4 Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am
the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Abide
in Him… that is what we are to do. The word “abide” is translated from Greek
word (me'-nō – to live; to continue to be in). Jesus Christ is telling
us to continue to live in Him. Draw your life from the “sap” of His own divine
strength and life that flows from within Him.
Last
week, we were encouraged to make Christ our life… Paul said, “For to me to live is
Christ,
and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
Today we hear the very words of Christ…He tells those who
have been saved to Abide; to continue to live in Him. Most of us have grown
tomato plants or seen them growing. What happens when a branch, that has
tomatoes growing on it, is somehow broken or bent? The leaves began to turn
yellow and the fruit begins to wither. Sin causes a break from Christ…not a
complete separation, but a tear in the branch. Our fruit begins to wither. The
tear or break must be mended so the sap is allowed to flow fully again into the
branch. When we sin, we must confess it, repent of it and seek His forgiveness.
As we do that, and as He removes those things from our
lives that suck the life from us, we will be able to abide in Him, to continue
to live in Him and be very fruitful. Without Him we can do nothing…nothing
that is spiritually good; no, not anything at all, be it little or great, easy
or difficult. We cannot think a good thought, speak a good word, or do a good
action. Neither can we begin one, nor, when it is begun, complete it. Nothing
is to be done "without Christ"; without His Spirit, grace, strength,
and presence.
If it were possible for the branches that are
truly in Him, to be removed from Him, they could bear no fruits of good works,
any more than a branch separated from the vine can bring forth grapes. All the
fruitfulness of a believer is to be ascribed to Christ, and His grace; not the
free will and power of man.
6 If a
man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men
gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If
ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you.
8 Herein
is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Any person, though professing faith in Christ and a good
church member, who does not continue on in Christ…who does not abide in Him, will
be cast away into the fire of God’s wrath. On the contrary, the professing true
believer will abide in Christ and the words of Christ will abide in him and he
will bear fruit…much fruit.
This is the manner in which you will be disciples to Jesus
Christ…By the holy, set apart life you continue to live, your growth in grace
and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, your continued faithfulness and obedience
to Him, all of which will bring the Father much glory…
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.
As Paul encouraged Timothy, I encourage you… “But
continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of...”
(2 Timothy 3:14)
